Minimal neoplasia may be defined as a small cancer that has progressed beyond its site of primary origin into the surrounding tissue, but that has not yet reached the stage of deeper invasion or metastasization. The basic principles of this minimal cancer are presented in chapters on molecular, biological and experimental aspects, and, in particular, on the clinical manifestations in various organs: preleukemia, incipient lymphoma, and minimal carcinomas of the uterine cervix, breast, thyroid, larynx, lung, prostate, stomach and colon. A separate chapter is devoted to cryptic gliomas. The latest morphological methods including cytology, early clinical diagnostics and, in particular, radiodiagnostics, are considered. The reader can expect up-to-date information about prompt diagnosis of the very early manifestations of cancer, together with inferences on therapy, which, especially in tumors of the uterine cervix, breast and thyroid, differs considerably from the treatment of advanced neoplasia.

Inhalt
General Aspects.- Minimal Neoplasia as a Challenge for Early Cancer Detection.- Morphology of Minimal Invasion.- Molecular Biology of Minimal Invasion.- Minimal Neoplasias in Experimental Liver Carcinogenesis.- Pathology and Therapy.- Minimal Endometrial Carcinoma.- Therapeutic Procedure for Minimal Endometrial Cancer.- Minimal Cervical Cancer: Definition and Histology.- Therapy of Minimal Cervical Cancer.- Anatomic Markers of Human Mammary Premalignancy and Incipient Breast Cancer.- Treatment Aspects of Minimal Breast Cancer.- Incipient Prostate Cancer: Definition, Histology, and Clinical Consequences.- Incipient Cancer of the Colon: Definition and Histology.- Immunological Approaches for Early Cancer Detection.- Therapeutic Consequences of Minimal Neoplasia of the Colon.- Early Cancer of the Lung.- Minimal Thyroid Neoplasia.- Minimal Thyroid Cancer: Clinical Consequences.- Cryptic Gliomas.- Cytogenetics of Preleukemic Stages in Experimental and Human Leukemogenesis.- Preleukemia: Bone Marrow Histopathology in Myelodysplasia and Preleukemic Syndrome.- Cytobiology and Clinical Findings of Myelodysplastic Syndromes.- Incipient Malignant Lymphoma: Definition and Histopathology.